Slowly Turning into a Ghost

Chapter THREE

Naruto ran. It hadn't taken him long to work out that Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei couldn't see him. At first he was overjoyed with the thoughts of shaving Sasuke's eyebrow again and painting his classroom orange but that all fell from his mind when his two teachers started fighting. He didn't understand why Mizuki-sensei lied, and then he called Naruto a demon.

He was the fox. The demon that had attacked Konoha all those years ago. It now made sense. Why did everyone give him those looks, why was everything overpriced just for him, why did everyone hate him just so much more on his birthday when everyone else got presents and positive attention on theirs? Why he didn't have parents and why the Sandaime always evaded the question when he asked? He was the one who had killed so many people. He was a murderer. He was the one who killed Iruka-sensei's parents. And he never had any parents to begins with. His face scrunched up with tears.

"You are not the Kyuubi…" Naruto jolted; the croaky whisper came from right behind him. He glanced around but only his teachers were nearby. The words contradicted everything Mizuki-sensei was saying but everything he said made complete sense and it hurt. Yet why was there a mysterious voice telling him otherwise.

When the ninja took their fight to the trees, Naruto took the moment to run over to the scroll. He was still unsure but he knew he needed to do something. He quickly rolled up the scroll and tied it to his back. He felt, before he saw, Mizuki-sensei's eyes. Can he see me? His eyes widened and he froze from fear; he didn't want Mizuki-sensei to know just how much it hurt him.

Maybe if he ran away with the scroll he'd escape from all those stares, all the overpriced shops and his apparently very non-demon-like dream to be hokage. He didn't want to do that, but if he had to…

"Konoha is your home…" The mysterious voice suddenly spoke again. This time Naruto didn't jump, in lieu, he nodded.

"Uzumaki Naruto is not the Kyuubi that attacked us 12 years ago!" Iruka-sensei's voice bright him back to reality as his words echoed around Naruto's head."We are his teachers, you of all people should be able to tell the difference between a container and what it contains."

So I am different from the demon?

His eyes met Iruka-sensei's; the man's eyes told Naruto that he believed every word he had just said. He let out a sigh of relieve too when he realised that the man wasn't looking at him but through him to the scroll tied on his back.

They still couldn't see him. He wiped his tears from his eyes. He had to do something, and he now knew what to do to.

"I need to talk to Iruka-sensei but first, escape" Naruto mumbled to himself, knowing that they couldn't hear him. Then he ran.

He bounded onto some lower tree branches when he had the chance to move quicker; having been taught how to tree-hop only last month with a little bit of chakra. I just need to get back to the village and…

"No, don't-"

Smack.

He face planted the ground. "Owe! What!?" Naruto glared at the offending tree and then the direction of the mysterious voice's laugh from his place on the ground. He jumped to his feet when he caught a gimps of his two sensei following. "Maybe no tree-hopping today."

It was when he could finally see the foliage thinning and the first buildings up ahead that Mizuki-sensei abruptly materialized in front of him.

Wack.

"Whatever you did to make the scroll fly Iruka, it won't work. It was too slow." Mizuki laughed as he held the scroll under one arm, Naruto's added weight evidently not affecting him.

Naruto struggled to untie the scroll from his back but he couldn't reach the knot on the rope in his position hanging somewhat weightlessly from the scroll under the man's arm.

"That wasn't me." Iruka glanced around the trees suspiciously after landing just moments after Mizuki, kunai still in hand. Being closer to the village mean that he had a better chance of getting backup but they were still just too deep for someone to notice them. He needed to push Mizuki out of the treeline.

Naruto willed himself to stop struggling, he'd try to wait for the right moment to release himself from the scroll then-

"Let me help you." The mysterious voice spoke again.

Abruptly Mizuki froze, eyes wide with horror on his face. "G- gh..." He dropped the scroll but didn't do anything else.

"Run." The voice was back and this time Naruto listened to it. He dashed towards the treeline and when he was almost there Mizuki screamed.

"GHOST!"

Hopefully this chapter kind of shows a little bit about what is invisible when Naruto is. If not, there will be an explanation in 2-3 chapters.

Who do you think the 'mysterious voice' is? What is Mizuki seeing? Does anyone have any idea why or how Naruto turns invisible yet? Any thoughts? Let me know in a review.

~Chezzy